


Found Family

by Bee_writes_things



Series: Keith Holt AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, More tags to be added, Pre-Canon, no beta we die like Keith's dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:02:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27761938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bee_writes_things/pseuds/Bee_writes_things
Summary: How Keith meets and bonds with Shiro and the holtsI suck at summaries, sorry
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Keith Holt AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030854
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Found Family

It was a relatively normal day. Nothing new or special had happened, just another day spent going from middle school to middle school trying to recruit students to the Garrison. That was how Shiro had spent the last week.

It was finally Friday, which meant he only had one school left to go. While he does love interacting with the kids and talking to them about what he does, being the poster boy for the Garrison can get really old sometimes. But at least today was Friday, then he could go back to his apartment and crash for the next 24 hours.

Shiro went through his whole spiel, talking about what the Garrison does, the opportunities it offers, and how to apply. None of the kids really stood out to him, with the exception of one black-haired boy. Every school he went to the kids were practically vibrating with excitement and were nowhere near afraid to show it, but this kid was different. He sat at the back of the class and kept his head down, but Shiro caught the boy sneaking glances more than once, pretending he wasn’t interested when it was obvious that that wasn’t the case. To say Shiro’s interest peaked would be an understatement, but he tried to let it go.

After his little speech was done, Shiro brought the class out to try the flight simulator. The students loved it, constantly hyping each other up and being nothing but encouraging, which made Shiro smile because it was always hit and as to whether or not the kids would behave during this part of his visit.

For the second time that day, Shiro found his attention back on the quiet black-haired boy who sat at the back of the class. He sat separate from the rest of the group and acted as if he had no interest in the simulator what-so-ever. Shiro knew better.

“We’ve had some great tries but nobody’s made it past the third level yet,” Shiro said before turning to the quiet boy who was now sitting in the grass. “Looks like you’re the only one left. Think you got what it takes?”

Unsurprisingly, the kid immediately sat up straight, stood, and moved towards the simulator.

The kid was a prodigy. Shiro saw him reach level five, two levels higher than any of his classmates before he had to step out to speak with the teacher.

“I've compiled a list of students who I think would make great candidates for the garrison.” The middle-aged teacher said as she handed Shiro a datapad. He looked at it briefly before asking about the kid who was still demolishing the simulator.

“Is this guy on there?” He asked, pointing to the kid. “Looks like he’s just about ready to fly the real thing.

The teacher looked vaguely confused before answering, “Keith?” As if she couldn’t believe the kid -- Keith, his name was Keith -- would ever be considered for a place like the Galaxy Garrison. “He’s a bit of a discipline case.”

The way she described Keith irked Shiro. He had a firm belief that no child was beyond help or a lost cause, but from her tone, Shiro could already tell the teacher had given up on him. She then proceeded to introduce Shiro to a different student by the name of James Griffin. She was beginning to explain how James had the best grades in school when they heard the distinct sound of someone crashing the simulator.

Shiro turned around to see the makeshift pilot chair empty before he heard the distinct sound of a car turning on. He turned back to see none other than Keith stealing his car.

Shiro should be mad, this kid he just met _stole his car_. That’s something people normally get mad about, so he should be mad. Right???

* * *

Shiro isn’t mad. It’s not like he isn’t frustrated or annoyed, he is both of those things, but he isn’t mad. Not even a little. Now he just wants to help.

That’s how he ended up at a juvenile detention center to bail out a thirteen-year-old kid named Keith Kogane who stole his car. Shiro fills out the paperwork, pays the fine, and then waits for Keith to come out. It takes longer than He would have liked, but Shiro is nothing if not patient.

 _Patience yields focus_ he thinks to himself while he waits 

Eventually, everything is done and Keith is free to leave. As they walk out, Keith opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it a few more times before saying,

“I don’t get it. I steal your car and you respond by helping me out?” It hurts Shiro a little to hear that Keith clearly expected Shiro to leave him in jail. Instead of voicing this he just smiles and says,

“Yeah, so you owe me one.” He hands Keith his card before telling him, “be at this address at 0800 Hours.” The kid looks at him more than a little confused, but Shiro can see the little bit of hope lingering in the back of his eyes. “You’re getting a second chance,” Shiro tells him before driving away.

* * *

When Shiro walked into Calypso’s hanger the next day Keith was already there waiting for him. The kid was staring up at the ship like it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. It made Shiro smile.

“That’s the Calypso, the first ship to carry astronauts to the moons of Jupiter.” Shiro wasn’t really expecting any sort of reply, but Keith started talking anyway.

“It took them three years to get there.” He said, “the longest voyage of its kind.”

Shiro was impressed. He smiled and told Keith about how the Calypso mission was the one that made him want to be a pilot. Talked about the brave men and women on that mission before turning to Keith and saying, “I wanna help you Keith. I think you have a lot of potential,” and he really truly did. “But what you decide to do with that potential is up to you.” Keith gave him the smallest ghost of a smile before Shiro turned and led him towards the two hoverbikes sitting outside the hanger.

“How would you feel about taking one of these for a spin?” Shiro asked as Keith’s small smile transformed into a grin. Keith gave a small nod before walking -- more like slowly running -- towards the closest hoverbike. He jumped on and immediately started to drive away. Shiro really should have expected this, so instead of standing there like an idiot, he got on his own hoverbike and drove after Keith.

* * *

This sort of thing started happening once a week. Keith and Shiro would meet at Calypso’s hangar and then spend the next few hours riding around on Garrison hoverbikes.

After the first few weeks, Shiro started asking Keith if he would be interested in joining the Garrison, and every time he would be told no. It was a bold-faced lie and they both knew it, but Shiro liked to think that by then he knew Keith well enough by now to know that he would open up eventually.

Nearly three months later Keith asked if he could take Shiro somewhere while they were out. Shiro was more than a little intrigued and obviously said yes.

The two of them drove deeper into the desert until they came across an old, rundown looking house. It was more like a shack really. Before Shiro could ask why they were there Keith started talking.

“This was my house,” he said, “before, you know….” Keith trailed off but Shiro knew what he was trying to say. They moved to sit on the front step in silence for a while. Shiro chanced the occasional glance at Keith while the kid stared straight ahead. It felt like hours before Keith spoke again.

“It was a fire.”

Shiro didn’t understand what he meant at first before realizing that Keith was talking about his father’s death.

“Keith…” Shiro started to say something but Keith cut him off.

“I want to talk, no I _need_ to talk about it.”

Shiro could only respond with a small nod and an “okay”. Keith took that as his cue to keep talking.

“I was eight when it happened. My dad was a volunteer firefighter for the town down there.” He pointed off into the distance to where Shiro assumed there was a town. “I was waiting for him to pick me up from school when the cops came and told me he was dead. I didn’t believe them. I just started running, not that I knew where I was going and tried to find him.” Shiro could see Keith’s eyes getting glassy and all he wanted to do was pull the boy into a hug and never let him go, but he knew he should wait. “I didn’t find him, obviously, and I eventually gave up looking. The cops found me a few hours later alone in the park. They took me to see a social worker who put me in a group home. I hated it there, ran away three times before they moved me to live with some foster parents, and I hated them too. I hated everyone and everything, and I still do.” Then the tears started falling and Shiro couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He pulled Keith into his chest and let him cling and sob.

“It’s okay,” Shiro said, “let it out.”

And that’s what Keith did. Shiro listened as Keith told him how angry he was at everything. At the people who ran the home, at his old foster parents and siblings, at his teachers and the kids from school, and even at his father for leaving him. Keith told Shiro all of this through sobs all while still clinging to Shiro for dear life. Shiro listened to everything with a heavy heart. Keith was so young, too young, he didn’t deserve any of this, it wasn’t fair. But life wasn’t fair, and Shiro knew that. He knew that this wasn’t something that he could just fix right then and there so he opted to be there for Keith however he was needed. So Shiro listened, and let his uniform get all wet and snotty, not that he really cared about the state of his uniform after everything he’d just heard. 

After a while, Keith stopped crying, but he didn’t let go of Shiro. Ever so quietly he asked, voice muffled by Shiro’s uniform, “do you think I could still join the Garrison?” Shiro pulled back, looked the kid he now thought of as a little brother in the eyes, and said with a soft smile,

“Of Course.”

The watery smile Keith gave him was worth a hundred ruined uniforms.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated, I absolutely love to see people interacting with my work. That being said, please be nice. This is my first fic and I'm really trying here. Tips and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
> 
> Also, my tumblr is https://bee-is-bi.tumblr.com/ if y'all wanna follow me


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